According to Forbes, “Billionaires at the top of the Forbes list had a very good November—at least in terms of their stockholdings. All of the world’s top 10 richest people are wealthier than they were a month ago. Their fortunes surged by a whopping nearly $115 billion—a 9% jump, due to upticks in shares ranging from Tesla to Alphabet.”
The combined net worth of the top 10 richest men in the world as of the time of writing this post is $1.44 trillion. Elon Musk is the top gainer, as the world’s richest person saw his fortune grow by $28 billion due to a nearly 17% rise in the price of Tesla stock during November, pushing his net worth to over $245 billion.
Other top gainers are Larry Page, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer, among others. It should interest you to know that the majority of these billionaires make their fortunes through technology, and 9 out of the 10 billionaires listed here are American citizens.
All of the top ten richest men are each worth more than $100 billion. In this post, I am actually looking at the list of the top ten richest men in the world, and they’re the top ten richest people on planet Earth as of December 2023, as the richest woman in the world is currently at No. 14 on the list of the richest people in the world.
Please be aware that market forces have an impact on stock prices, so these net worths may fluctuate daily.
1. ELON MUSK
Net worth: $245.3 billion
Source: Tesla, SpaceX, X (Twitter)
Age: 52
Residence: Austin, Texas
Citizenship: U.S.
Elon Musk is originally from South Africa, moved to Canada as a teenager before his 18th birthday, and worked a variety of of jobs and enrolled at Queen’s University in Ontario, then transferred to University of Pennsylvania, where he bagged a bachelor’s degree in economics.
In 2000, Musk and Peter Thiel cofounded PayPal, which they sold to eBay in 2002. He founded SpaceX in 2002 in El Segundo, near Los Angeles. He later joined Tesla as an investor and chairman in 2004 and was later granted the cofounder title. In 2010, he took the company public after becoming the CEO in 2008.
Tesla market capitalization soared during 2020 and 2021. In September 2021, Musk became the world’s richest person with a staggering $320 billion net worth. A position he maintained for most of 2022—until December 2022, when a shape drop in
Tesla’s share price pushed down the value of his fortune.
Musk reclaimed the world’s No. 1 spot on June 8, 2023, displacing Arnault Bernard of France . Tesla shares have risen nearly 17% in November, adding $28 billion to Musk’s fortune.
He is also the CEO of rocket firm SpaceX and social media company X. He invested heavily in solar and transportation (the boring company). The electric car company Tesla accounts for about two-thirds of his fortune.
2. BERNAND ARNAULT
Net worth: $191.3 billion
Source: LVMH/ luxury goods
Age: 74
Residence: Paris
Citizenship: France
The French septuagenarian Bernard Arnault is CEO and chairman of LVMH, the largest luxury goods company. Amongst its most notable are Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moet & Chandon, Tiffany & Co. and Sephora.
Arnault started displaying his entrepreneurial capabilities while managing his father’s construction business.
Today, all five of Arnault’s children are actively involved in the running of the LVMH empire. He even appointed his daughter Delphine to run Dior since January 2023.
The French billionaire maintained the world’s richest person spot for most of the first half of 2023 until June 8, 2023 when Elon Musk took over from him. Arnault is worth $13.6 billion better as at December 1 than November 1 st of 2023, due to a rise in the price of LVMH shares.
3. JEFF BEZOS
Net worth: $168.4 billion
Source: Amazon
Age: 59
Residence: Medina, Washington
Citizenship: U.S.
In 1994, after quitting his job in New York at hedge fund D.E. Shaw, Jeff Bezos started an online book selling platform Amazon in his garage in Seattle. Today Amazon has grown to be a giant e-commerce company in the world.
The company now dominates cloud storage and has moved into movie and series production to feed Amazon Prime Video.
In July 2017, Bezos overtook Bill Gates to become the world’s richest person. He and Gates contested the number one and number two richest spots, but Bezos comfortably occupied the world No. 1 position from 2018 through 2021; he dropped to second richest in 2022, losing it to Elon Musk. Then it dropped to fourth richest but moved back to No. 3 on January 25, 2023.
In 2019, Bezos sold 4% of his Amazon shares to his wife, MacKenzie, as part of a divorce settlement. He now owns just under 10% of the company, having sold and given away part of his shares. About $27 billion worth of his stock has been given out since Amazon went public in 1997. He has invested in many companies, including Airbnb and the software firm Workday.
In July 2021, Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of e-commerce giant Amazon but remains chairman. He then went to space on a rocket built by his company, Blue Origin. As Amazon shares moved up, his fortune rose by $12.5 billion between November 1, 2023, and December 1st .
4. LARRY ELLISON
Net worth: $146.5 billion
Source: Oracle
Age: 79
Residence: Woodside, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Software tycoon Larry Ellison of Oracle is the world’s fourth richest man. The tech billionaire cofounded Oracle in 1977 and ran it as CEO until 2014. He now serves as chairman and Chief Technology Officer of the company. He also invested in Tesla and was on the board from 2018 through August 2022.
For a record eight days in June 2023, Ellison overtook Jeff Bezos as the third richest person in the world following a rise in Oracle’s share price. Shares then receded, and Ellison fell back to fourth richest. He is the second-highest gainer after Elon Musk in the last month’s surge in the tech stock market, as his fortune rose by $15.6 billion between November 1 and December 1, 2023.
5. WARREN BUFFETT
Net worth: $119.3 billion
Source: Berkshire Hathaway
Age: 93
Residence: Omaha, Nebraska
Citizenship: U.S.
The nonagenarian is fondly called the “Oracle of Omaha,” and Warren Buffett is regarded by many as one of the most successful investors of all time. He runs the investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. He bought his first stock at age 11 and filed his taxes at age 13.
Together with Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Buffett created the Giving Pledge in 2010, appealing to billionaires to commit to giving away at least half their fortune to charitable groups. “Buffett has said he would donate 99% of his fortune.
So far, he’s donated at least $51.5 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation and his kids’ foundations. That makes him the most generous billionaire on the planet. Back in mid-June, Buffett gave away $4.6 billion worth of his Berkshire Hathaway shares. Between November 1 and December 1, his fortune fell by a bit more than $5 billion.” Forbes.
6. BILL GATES
Net worth: $117.6 billion
Source: Microsoft, investments
Age: 68
Residence: Medina, Washington
Citizenship: U.S.
I recently asked someone this question: “Who is the richest man in the world?” and they replied to Bill Gates. I was shocked, I later discovered that their response was because Bill Gates has occupied the No.1 spot for so long in the last 30 years(he was the richest person in the world from 1995 through 2017 (except in 2008 and from 2010 through 2013) so they simply concluded that he is still the richest.
Bill Gates, the great computer programmer, dropped out of Harvard to cofound Microsoft with his high school friend Paul Allen in 1975 creating one of the first software programs available for the emerging personal computer industry. He was CEO of the company for 25 years and remained chairman until 2014.
He eventually stepped off the board in 2020 but still spends appreciable time consulting with Microsoft teams. He has invested in many companies, including waste removal firm Republic Services and agricultural equipment maker Deere & Co. He is arguably the largest owner of farmland in the U.S.
In 2021, Bill Gates gave at least $6 billion in stock as part of divorce settlement for Melinda French Gates. Helped by an increase in the price of Microsoft shares, Gates fortune grew by $7.3 billion between November 1 and December 1, 2023.
7. Mark Zuckerberg
Net worth: $115.9 billion
Source: Facebook/Meta
Age: 39
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Citizenship: U.S.
As a student at Harvard University in 2004, Mark Zuckerberg cofounded Facebook (now called Meta Platforms), which went public in 2012. Meta Platforms owns Instagram and WhatsApp, and the company is greatly expanding with 3.88 billion users monthly.
Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, owns about 13% of the company. Zuckerberg's fortunes are largely tied to Meta's stock, and his wealth has risen and fallen alongside it. As of November 2023, his fortune had risen by $9 billion due to a rise in Meta’s stock price.
8. STEVE BALLMER
Net worth: $112.8 billion
Source: Microsoft, investments
Age: 67
Residence: Hunts Point, Washington
Citizenship: U.S.
Steve Ballmer, the tech billionaire, is a co-founder of Ballmer Group, a philanthropic investment company. He joined Microsoft as Bill Gates Assistant as employee number 30 in 1980 after dropping out of the MBA program at Stanford University. Ballmer rose to become the CEO of Microsoft, a position he occupied from 2000 to 2014.
Ballmer is the owner of the NBA team Los Angeles Clippers, a team he bought for $2 billion after retiring from Microsoft. His fortune rose by $10 billion in November 2023 due to a 9% climb in the price of Microsoft shares.
9. LARRY PAGE
Net worth: $111.7 billion
Source: Google
Age: 50
Residence: Palo Alto, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Page is an internet entrepreneur and a computer scientist best known for cofounding the search engine Google with fellow Stanford PhD student Sergey Brin in 1998. He was the company CEO until 2001 and from 2011 to 2015. Page currently serves as a board member of Alphabet, the holding company for Google, the world’s largest search engine operator.
He made an investment in the asteroid mining business Planetary Resources, which blockchain company ConsenSys acquired in 2018.
Between November 1 and December 1, his fortune grew by about $6.6 billion as Alphabet shares climbed almost 5%.
10. SERGEY BRIN
Net worth: $107.3 billion
Source: Google
Age: 50
Residence: Los Altos, California
Citizenship: U.S.
Sergey Brin, was 6 years old when he came to the U.S. from Russia with his family in order to escape anti-Semitism. Today, he is the richest immigrant in America. Together with Larry Page, they founded Google and Alphabet in 1998 during their PhD program at Stanford University.
“Sergey Brin stepped down as president of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in December 2019 but remains a controlling shareholder and a board member. He cofounded Google with Larry Page in 1998 after the two met at Stanford University while studying for advanced degrees in computer , has donated more than $1.1 billion toward advancing research into the neurodegenerative disease, with a pronounced emphasis on advancing basic science” Forbes.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
A. Who are the top 10 richest people in the world?
- Elon Musk
- Bernard Arnault
- Jeff Bezos
- Larry Ellison
- Warren Buffett
- Bill Gates
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Steve Ballmer
- Larry Page
- Sergey Brin
B. Who is the richest man in the world?
As of December 1, 2023, the richest person in the world is Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO; he’s worth over $245 billion.
He reclaimed the number one spot on June 8, 2023, overtaking Bernard Arnault of France.
C. Who is the richest woman in the world?
Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of France is the richest woman in world as of December 1, 2023, She is worth an
estimated $94.3 billion and is the world’s 14th richest person. Her fortune lies in her ownership stake in cosmetics
giant L’Oreal, which she inherited from her late mother. Her grandfather was the founder of L’Oreal.